Coke oven doors in use today are of various constructions and include various types of sealing structures for effecting a seal between the oven door and the jamb of a coke oven. One type of door utilizes a relatively rigid door frame to which is peripherally mounted a seal in the form of a metal strip, a knife edge of which contacts the door jamb sealing surface generally perpendicularly for sealing therewith.
In use, the door jamb of a conventional coke oven tends to become warped or distorted due to the extreme temperatures to which the jamb is subjected during the coking process. In addition, the coking process generates a hard carbon deposit, which deposit tends to coat the door jamb sealing surface creating irregularities around its periphery.
A disadvantage of conventional coke oven doors is the lack of any provision with which to adjust the overall contour of the door to provide for proper sealing of the door with the door jamb when the jamb has become warped or distorted.
Another disadvantage of coke oven doors of previous designs are their sealing structures inability to compensate for hard carbon deposit, generated by the firing of the coke oven, which has coated the door jamb. Such accumulation of deposit on the door jamb creates irregularities around the periphery of the jamb sealing surface and prevents the knife edge of the typical coke oven door seal from effecting a complete seal around the periphery of the door jamb.
One attempt at providing adjustment force to a sealing edge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,055, assigned to the assignee of the instant application. In that patent, there is disclosed the use of a pair of plates 68 adjustably mounted through the use of a slot 70 and pins 72 for varying the amount of tension on the resilient middle portion of a diaphragm.
Another attempt at providing for sealing edge adjustment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,101 to Thiersch et al. In the Thiersch patent, there is disclosed a plurality of door body elements hingedly connected together. Each individual door body element is rotatably disposed at its top and bottom around a horizontal axle extending transversely of the height of the coke oven door. Such a door, however, is subject to criticism as the pivoted connections of the numerous door bodies provide for too much relative movement therebetween, the pivoted joints lacking enough flexural rigidity to be properly adjustable.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an improved coke oven door and sealing structure which can compensate for warped and distorted jambs and which can accommodate irregularities in the jamb surface due to deposits thereon such that a proper seal can be effected between door and jamb.